When Animals Attack: Pet Loving 23-Year-Old College Student Mauled To Death By Dogs She Rescued

A 23-year-old woman who devoted her life to saving animals was mauled to death by dogs she had lovingly rescued.

Rebecca Carey, of Decatur, Georgia, worked in an animal clinic and had been taking in abandoned animals for 10 years.

But, in a tragic turn of fate, the college student was savagely killed sometime over the weekend by at least one of the dogs she had rescued.

Authorities say Carey had five dogs living with her at the time of her death, including a pit bull she had owned for six years.

The other dogs included another pit bull, a boxer mix she had taken in and a Presa, a large Spanish breed. She was also dogsitting another Presa for her friend, Jackie Cira.

Cira discovered Carey’s mauled body on Sunday afternoon after her friend failed to show up for work at Alpharetta’s Loving Hands Animal Clinic.

There was a lot of blood,’ Cira told wsbtv.com. ‘And when first got there, it looked like she had fallen and hit her head.’

Police initially thought they were dealing with a homicide but the DeKalb County medical examiner ruled Carey’s death the result of dog bites.

DeKalb County police spokeswoman Mekka Parish says all of the dogs were euthanized on Wednesday with the consent of Carey’s parents.

Cira told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Carey would have been devastated to find out that her dogs has been put down, adding that it would have been possible to determine which animals were responsible for the attack.

‘We’re talking about three very different breeds weighing around 80 pounds, 55 pounds and 15 pounds,’ she said.

But, Tim Medlin, interim director of DeKalb Animal Control, told wsbtv.com that would not have been possible. ‘We didn’t know which dog did which,’ he said.

‘I can’t be wrong. Not just myself, no one can be wrong in putting out a dog that possibly had to do with these type of injuries. I will not put another person at that kind of risk.’

Cira said that Carey, a skilled dog handler, was experienced when it came to dealing with aggressive animals.

‘If she found out it was a dangerous dog, they were gone,’ she told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ‘She felt strongly that dangerous dogs had no business being in society where they could attack a child or something.’

Cira added to the newspaper that perhaps Carey had fallen on her head after attempting to break up a fight between the dogs.

Carey’s parents, Greg and Ellen Carey, released the following statement after their daughter’s tragic death. ‘Rebecca Carey of Decatur was 23 years old and an avid animal lover.

‘Since the second grade when she read the book “Throw Away Pets,” she vowed to be a voice for all animals.’

Betsy Duffey’s novel follows the lives of two girls who find a dog, a cat, and a rabbit in a temporary animal shelter and try to find them homes before they are put to sleep by the authorities.

‘Upon placing her first abandoned animal in a permanent loving home in 2003, she volunteered countless hours with rescue networks and animal shelters,’ the Carey family statement continued.

‘There she did what she loved the most: rescuing animals from untenable situations to find them safe, loving homes.’

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